~ The daily blog written by ITL's Neil Stratton

Taking stock of NFL players by their college’s states

We decided to go back inside the numbers to take a look at a few trends related to the states in which NFL players went to college. There weren’t many surprises, and the numbers were very similar to the states by high school. We also checked into the twisting paths some players took to the league.

California is tops with 179 players from Golden State colleges. Texas is next with 162, while Florida is just behind with 160. Those three states also make up the top three if you go by players by hometowns (California, 277; Florida, 255 and Texas, 242).

The only other state with more than 100 of its college players in the NFL is Alabama (102).

Georgia doesn’t do a great job of keeping its high school talent in-state. Though the Peach State is fourth (125) in NFL players at the high school level, it’s just No. 12 (69) in players from Georgia colleges.

Ohio is fifth in NFL players from its high schools (101) and its colleges (96).

There are a lot of schools that serve as football factories, and even some junior colleges that produce their share of future pros. However, there’s only one player in the NFL who went to the Military Academy Prep School, i.e., the ‘juco’ for people wanting to attend West Point. It’s Seahawks DE Julius Warmsley, who finished up at Tulane.

Vikings DT Tom Johnson is, unofficially, the only active player who has experience in NFL Europe, which dissolved in 2007. Actually, Johnson has a closet full of jerseys as he’s also played in the Arena League and the CFL after he finished up at Southern Miss.

Broncos DE Chase Vaughn has played in more leagues even than Johnson, having experinence in the CFL, IFL, AFL and UFL. By the way, he played at Adams State before finishing up at CSU-Pueblo. There’s also Cowboys FB Tyler Clutts, who’s played in the CFL, AFL and UFL.

Only one player we tracked has played with three Division I-A (FBS) programs. It’s Texans QB Tom Savage (Pittsburgh, Arizona and Rutgers), drafted 4/135 this spring.